China Says It Will Continue to Trade with Iran Despite Sanctions

EU Moves to Protect Companies Doing Business in Iran

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday declaring that recently re-imposed sanctions on Iran by the US would not affect trade relations between Teheran and Beijing. "China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions and long-armed jurisdiction," the statement said. "China's commercial cooperation with Iran is open and transparent, reasonable, fair and lawful, not violating any United Nations Security Council resolutions. China's lawful rights should be protected." According to the International Energy Agency, Chinese state-owned companies including CNPC and Sinopec have made massive investments in Iranian oil and gas fields, shipping around $15 billion in energy exports back to China annually.

However, despite EU statements promising protection from the effects of sanctions, several large European firms have already announced they are pulling out of Iran, with German automotive conglomerate Daimler becoming the latest company to make such an announcement on Tuesday evening.

"Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States," US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.